


Her Last Order

by AllTheNamesIWantedWereUsed



Category: The Following
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Spoilers for S1 finale, Tragedy, loss of friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-19 00:09:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8181061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AllTheNamesIWantedWereUsed/pseuds/AllTheNamesIWantedWereUsed
Summary: Left alone in the woods with the bodies of his superior officer and his would-be murderer, Mike Weston can only think. Spoilers for S1 finale of The Following.





	

Mike stared down at the body of his fellow agent Debra Parker. He couldn't believe that the strong, beautiful, badass Debra Parker was dead. It seemed unreal.

He glanced down at his nails, which were caked from dirt due to digging her up, and pulling her from the coffin Joe Carroll's men had put her in. She'd asphyxiated, but then what else could happen to a person when they were buried alive?

Joe Carroll. That son of a bitch.

He had done this. All of this. Kidnapped Joey and Claire, ordered his men to torture Mike, had even almost killed him once.

Yeah, and he had made Ryan Hardy's life hell.

He was driving Ryan mad, to the point where Hardy had almost shot Mike in the leg. Something about having to face Joe alone.

Ryan'd had the audacity to say it was his fight, like he was the only person who had been touched by the angel of death known as Joe Carroll.

Mike sat down next to Parker's body, before his gaze wandered over her dirt and tear stained face, across the FBI badge resting on her still chest, before finally settling on her tied hands, her wrists bruised.

It wouldn't be right, to leave her alone so helpless. He could almost hear her telling him to get the goddamn ropes off her hands. He had let her rest in some sort of peace, with some semblance of dignity.

He found himself unconsciously reaching out, his fingers finding the coarse knots and untying them, tossing the ropes away, then gently, meticulously folding her hands over her sternum. His hands stayed atop hers for a moment, and fresh tears pricked his eyes at the realization that they still possessed warmth.

As an FBI agent, he should've known when corpses lost their warmth, but he couldn't remember for the life of him.

She looked so relaxed, like she was sleeping. At peace, like she'd gone accepting her fate.

In a way, she had.

He remembered what she had said to him over the phone; the last words she'd spoken to him.

_"Mike...you're a good man. Don't lose that."_

Such fond authority in her voice, like she was giving him an order.

He'd begged her to stop talking like that, telling her to have hope, when really it was like he was trying to convince himself.

Recollecting this brought a new pang to his chest.

He looked over her to see Alex's corpse. Ryan had shot him point-blank after they'd found Debra; the other man had been taunting them about not making it in time.

God, the look on Ryan's face when he couldn't revive her, then the fierce, animalistic rage when he'd strode towards Alex and whipped his gun out before Mike could stop him.

Then they'd found that damned manuscript. Hearing Ryan read Debra's death in five simple sentences, reduced so minimally, it pissed him off.

_And Agent Debra Parker was dead._

The actual statement of death of a intelligent, important human being watered down to six words.

He was supposed to be dead. In Joe's story, Mike Weston had been shot dead in the woods by Alex the sniper.

They hadn't been able to change what happened to Parker, but for a split second, Mike truly believed they had a chance to make everything else work out. They could find Claire, lock Joe up for good...this could have a bittersweet ending.

Ryan shot him and his made-in-the-heat-of-the-moment plan down, almost literally.

And so, Mike Weston was left alone with two corpses in the woods, only really grieving one.

All he could hold onto was that Agent Debra Parker of the FBI, his superior officer, had told him he was a good man, and to never lose that.

The least Mike Weston could do was try and honor her memory, and follow her last order.


End file.
